The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Camaro IFS- last time.

I have a 51 3100 stripped and ready to graft a completely rebuilt 76 Camaro front clip. I have read many articles that say the ride seems to be better than the Mustang II. So I am going for it. One problem- is there a real problem with the width- or not. I havn't got a straight answer yet, yes, no, your screwed, offset rims, or start over. Can anyone help me here? Also, is the 84-85 Camaro-Firebird rear end a good way to get to get this truck leveled up front to back?

It will be wider but you can use rims with more backspacing which will bring the tires inward. I don't know if you have this site but if not, it may help.

http://classicchrisengineering.freeservers.com/CamaroClip.htm

Camaro front clip is to wide. Using wierd offset wheels will help, but it is TO WIDE.

Too wide? This one looks pretty darn good to me (Ken Brown's '49 w/ trans am clip)

[img]http://www.stovebolt.com/gallery/brown_ken49_purple.htm[/img]

OK if that pic didn't work just look at it under '49's in the gallery, it's a beauty.

[img]http://www.stovebolt.com/gallery/images/brown_ken_1949_01.jpg[/img]

Jeff - thanks for the kudos - I have never riden in a MII suspensioned AD truck - but this one rode and handled almost as well as a Camaro / Firebird. The rims in this picture were stock Camaro Berlinetta 14 x 8" rims with BF Goodrich 50 series low profile tires - never a rub. I had 15 x 8 camaro ralleys on it with bigger rubber that did rub a little - it was easy to find rims and rubber to fix the problem.

Ken, that is a beautiful truck. Could it be any higher in the front or do you have to run it that low with the IFS?

It could've would've been higher if I had put a little more space between the trailing members of the clip and the bottom of the truck frame when fabbing it up. I would space them at least 1-1/2 inches down if I had to do it over again. Having the low profile rubber with 14 inch rims dropped it even lower - Full suspension travel on the front would just scrape the bumper and the header flanges. :o I put stiffer springs in it after this picture was taken and that increased the height about an inch.

Ken, when you grafted your camaro clip on the front- did you match the bottom of the subframe leg with the bottom of the C-channel on the original frame, or offset some for more height?? (i guess this is what your talking about the 1.5" diff. if you could do it over again?)

Yeah, I used vise grips to clamp the upper trailing edge of trailing frame (rectangular tube) to the bottom of the AD C-Frame. Now I would space it down 1.5 inches - graft only the section where the IFS trailing frames drops down at an angle and intersects with the frame right in front of the cab.

Cut the frame :o - (sorry I feel dirty saying this) :rolleyes: at an angle that matches the drop angle of the trailing members of the IFS frame and graft together at that point only. You should be able to box it in for 8 - 10 inches back from that point to give you another edge to weld to so that you have ample strength.

You can set the V8 in there with stock motor mounts and your dist will clear with plenty of room. Pick headers for a Camaro that tuck up high in the frame - the first set I had were a bit on the low side and scraped - lots of sparks at night!

Fabbing the front radiator core support mount and front bumper is pretty easy using C-channel (like 1"x3" or 1"x4" and a couple pieces of angle iron (2x2 heavy) to bolt the bumper mounts to. A metal cutting bandsaw, a drill press, a mig welder and you should be done in an afternoon.

Save that front axle, original wheels and hubcaps and springs and stuff and send them to me! :p

Ken, do you think it would work well to graft the clip w/ C channel original trailing top edge flush with the top leading edge of the AD Clip (above the turn down)?? That would be a couple of inches I guess- and the leading edge across the whole finished product would be matched. Also, I read that article many times about the Camero graft listed above in another post, but I see no reason to completely pry apart the whole frame and replace running board mounts and cross members. I would beef em up, but not completely change the body mounting equipment from the front cab mounts back. Any comments??? Oh yea, did you get my email on all the original equipment I plan to get rid of??